City Council To Launch Public Awareness Campaign About Slum Landlords

City Council To Launch Public Awareness Campaign About Slum Landlords

Dublin City Council is launching what it calls a 'major public awareness campaign' aimed at putting an end to unsafe and overcrowded rented homes.

The announcement follows last week's RTE Investigates programme, which revelead the horrific homes some people are renting.

Dublin City Council has admitted that those shown on the programme were "grossly overcrowded, with totally unacceptable living conditions that were clearly unsafe."

It a statement, the council also said that it has "noticed a growing number of such incidences over the last year or so".

It explained that they are "very dependent on tenants and the general public to report these situations", and that it suspected slum landlords "are taking advantage of largely young and vulnerable foreign nationals who are coming to this country to study or work".

The statement went on to say that some of those foreign nationals may not be in Ireland legally, and may be afraid to complain in case they get kicked out of the country.

Dublin City Council is calling for an improvement in laws to better protect tenants, but has admitted that "we do need to make it easier for people to make such complaints/reports".

It is launching what it calls a "major public awareness campaign", which will do the following:

Encourage tenants and members of the public to report any overcrowding situations or the suspicion of same.

Create a dedicated phone number / e-mail address that would take all such enquiries and ensure they are immediately referred to the relevant Division.

Ensure that a fully co-ordinated approach is taken for each case.

Dublin City Council explained that the primary responsibility for safe and secure housing lies with landlords, and that they have a legal obligation to ensure that all properties meet legal requirements.